What would be the best way to rebuild and/or improve this torch, first attempt at modding.
ouch.
okay… this is one of those “must have” lights in about any one of our collections… just about everyone has a “98” light, or, soon ends up with one or more at one time or another. Very popular style.
while the STYLE is popular? this particular 98 clone might not be the best one to get, but, someone else will chime in if i am mistaken. I am guessing, but, someone else might know for sure.
right off the bat? your battery, while it will work… has the magic word “fire” in it… chances are that while it will WORK, the capacity of 3000+ mah? is “chinese milliamps” capacity, meaning “it probably isnt”. Your lumens are chinese lumens, it will be much less lumens.
this is all just advertising, but, you likely know all this… since you asked to MOD it.
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my crystal ball says its PROBABLY not an “xml” emitter. it MIGHT be an xml2, which is “optimum”… its got a good chance of being a “LB” clone emitter, IE, a lattice bright imitation of the real (claimed in the ad) xml emitter.
if it is? it will WORK, it will have a blue-ish tine to it… it wont be QUITE as bright as the real CREE emitter the ad claims and it will make a little bit more heat per amount of light as the real emitter. Much like your battery? its… okay to start with.
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take a tailcap reading… this will tell you how much juice the driver is putting out…
MODS? heck… first verify the emitter. If its not a REAL cree? then get a real cree emitter on a NOCTIGON, order it with a real cree already on the noctigon… while youre at it? get a driver of the juice level you desire.
desolder the emitter and remove the driver… plop the driver in and solder the drivers leads to the noctigon with CREE already on it.
shrugs then enjoy your new, better, light!
while you are swapping the emitter board and driver (standard first mod for anyone, by the way…) if you get rambunctious? if its a “hollow pill” (good chance of it…) you might wanna try pressing in an aluminum or copper solid washer to get a real pill going out of it, it will help the hotter driver you plop in to shed the heat better.
after you enjoy your “new light” for a while? you might wanna play with bypassing the spring(s) on the driver plate and tailcap with soldering copper braids onto them, it will let the light draw juice better. not really necessary, its just a good practice after you have gotten your feet wet.
and? welcome to the club… anyone with a budget ’98 light?? belongs here, no doubt you are now H-O-M-E, lol
PS - last but not least? get a “real” battery after youre all done… its only a couple bucks, and it will have a longer run time. its not a waste, as other 18650 light you will acquire will use the cool battery(s) you buy also. You can use THAT one as a backup if you need another if the cool battery runs out.
…and feel free to ask 67 different questions, we all do when we first arrive here… its normal.
“the only stupid question, is the one you dont ask”
Oh boy, that battery and that charger are dangerous.
Maybe you brought just the flashlight?
aw, opinions vary… i myself have a couple cheap chargers, ones that came with lights i bought… i use them, they all work fine… and i have several cheap 18650 batteries that work if i dont expect them to pull big amps… my opinion is that this is FINE for a first light.
NEWBS have to get their feet wet before they can justify buying top of the line batteries and expensive chargers… this will get him going for now… not like hes going to be driving a noctigon meteor with that battery…
I’ve not bought the torch yet, just want to run through some options, sort out some ideas
I’m sure this is the better option…Just all sold out :person_facepalming:
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_6178.html#customer_review
Regarding chargers and batteries, Nitecore D4 seems ok for now, plenty of options for different sized batteries and as for batteries, that will all depend on the emitter and driver…!
A perfect charger costs below 5$ and a battery also around 5$……so buy that.
http://www.gearbest.com/chargers/pp_272183.html
Best battery: http://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_196913.html
You should also look into the protected battery thing because that may be good for some cases, theses are often the beginner batteries: http://www.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_187046.html?wid=1
If it has nextmode memory and if that disturbs you you should search the forum for that problem often these cheap drivers can be easyly modded with a pencil :).
Checking what led you have is also a good way to start.
All in all these sk98 lights are often a bit “hard” to mod because the results are often not so impressive like with other lights considered the work done…but on the other hand they are impressive little lights for beginners, can be dissassembled easyly and all basic parts are always the same in flashlights…
For modding (or for that matter: its looks and quality), I do not like any XXX-98 a bit. May I suggest the Supfire F5, better in all aspects except the price.
Contrary to some, I find the SK-98 to be a decent compact zoomie, and prefer it over the smaller SK-68s. :sunglasses:
For this size and form-factor, I prefer the XP-G2 over the XM-L/XP/L/HI emitters.
I used this driver:
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S023811
…which is the 20mm version of the popular Nanjg 105c, and which will drive your emitter to 3A.
Combine this with your choice of tint (for this style aspheric light, I prefer a Cool White tint, XP-G2 1A) emitter on a 16mm Noctigon PCB.
The smaller die of the XP-G2 gives you higher surface brightness and a tighter/brighter hotspot.
If you want to improve the heatsinking of the hollow pill, mix a little JB Weld or similar and pour into the pill after the emitter is seated in place. I haven’t done this yet on my light, and it still works very well in this configuration, as the hollow pill has fairly thick walls and shoulders for the PCB to rest on. Make sure you use some sort of thermal compound between the shoulders of the pill and the emitter PCB.